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ROCK PROCESSING MANUAL

MANUAL CALCULATION SCREENS D:3:1

Calculation of screen size 2001-10-08

Method for selection of screen size - conventional screens

Sandvik Rock Processing method for calculating the required screen size for an application
is a result of an extensive screening trial programme. Almost every screen manufacturer has
developed his own method, different from all others. The method for selection of screen size
is consequently not an exact science. This method differs mostly from the old Allis Chalmers
method in that it takes the fraction length and the accuracy demands on the fractions into
account.
It is important to understand that the method does not take uneven feed rate, varying feed
analysis, varying moisture content, partial blinding etc. into consideration. Remember that
your screen size results are useless unless combined with a good portion of common sense !

The method is applicable for conventional vibrating screens with inclinations up to 25° and
for separations from 2 mm up to 160 mm. The screening elements should be made of
rubber, plastic, wire cloth or perforated steel plate.

The method is based on the assumptions that the feed fractions contains ”zero”-material, that
means it is a full fraction with fines like the fraction 0-16 mm, not like the fraction 8-16 mm.

Working plan
Calculation of the required screen
width
Calculation of the required screen
area
Selection of standard screen size
1. define screening duty
2. select screen type
3. select screening element type
4. selection of the bed depth
5. calculate required screen width
6. calculate specific screen capacity through
deck
7. calculate required screen area (and length)
8. select screen of standard size
9. check the resulting load

Some of the working plan steps will be illustrated with an example, defined in step one.

1. Define screening duty

Example: A crushed granite 0-14 mm, with 3.5 % moisture, is to be split into the fractions
0-10 mm and 10-14 mm at a feed rate of 100 t/h. The feed size distribution
information denotes that 70 % < 10 mm and 23 % < 5 mm. Maximum permitted
oversize in 0-10 mm is 5 % and the limit for undersize in 10-14 mm is 20 %.

2. Select screen type

Example: A circular-motion screen with 15° inclination is selected

3. Select screening element type

Example: Wire cloth with square holes is selected

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ROCK PROCESSING MANUAL

MANUAL CALCULATION SCREENS D:3:1

Calculation of screen size 2001-10-08

4. Calculation of the bed depth

Find the a appropriate max. bed depth at the feed end of the screen with the help of the
diagram below. Interpolate if necessary.

b max : maximum allowable bed depth under favourable conditions, such as dry
material and low separation accuracy demands.
b norm : recommended bed depth under normal conditions, such as closed circuit
operation or final screening of "long" fractions (ratio between nominal upper
and lower separation sizes is approximate two or higher).
b min : Recommended bed depth under difficult conditions, such as damp material,
severe separation accuracy demands and/or final screening of "short" fractions
(ratio between nominal upper and lower separation sizes is approximate less
than two). A bed depth below b min may result in low screening accuracy due to
excessive material motion.

Example: 20 % undersize is rather difficult to achieve in such a short fraction as 10-14

mm and the ratio between nominal upper and lower separation size gives
14
= 14
. < 2 . Thus, use the b min -curve. Separation size 10 mm gives b = 25 mm
10
according to the diagram.

The bed depth at the discharge end of the screen must also be checked. This bed depth
should be between the separation size and three times the separation size, i.e.
(1 × sep.) ≤ bed depth ≤ (3 × sep.) .
If the bed depth < sep., increase the depth at the feed end even if b max is exceeded.
If the bed depth > 3 x sep., reduce the depth at the feed end.

Example: 30 % > 10 mm according to the feed size distribution curve. With 20 %

30
undersize, = 37 % of the feed will pass over the discharge end.
0.8
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ROCK PROCESSING MANUAL

MANUAL CALCULATION SCREENS D:3:1

Calculation of screen size 2001-10-08

The bed depth at the discharge end will then be 0.37 x 25 = 9.3 mm <
separation 10 mm. According to the theory, increase the bed depth b at the
10
feed end to b = = 27 mm .
0.37

5. Calculate required screen width

Calculate the required net width in order to obtain the calculated bed depth with the formula:

Q feed Q dis
W net = or W net = where
3.6 × b × v × db 3.6 × b × v × db

W net = net width (m) (Nominal width minus clamping losses)

Q feed = feed rate to the screen deck (t/h)
Q dis = flow rate at the discharge end of the screen deck (t/h)
b = bed depth (mm)
v = transport speed of the material along the deck (m/s)
db = bulk density of the feed material (t/m³)

Example: If the transport speed for the circular-motion screen is 0.45 m/s, then:
100
W= = 143
. m.
3.6 × 27 × 0.45 × 160
.

6. Calculate specific screen capacity through deck

The capacity through the deck is given by the formula

Qspec = A × B × C × D × E × F × G × H × I × J × K × L (t / h × m )
2

where

A = Nominal capacity through deck m3 / m2 × h ( )

Example: Separation size 10 mm gives A = 9.6 m 3 / m 2 × h

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ROCK PROCESSING MANUAL

MANUAL CALCULATION SCREENS D:3:1

Calculation of screen size 2001-10-08

B = Factor for amount of oversize in feed

1,05
1,00
0,95
0,90
0,85
0,80
0,75
0,70
0,65
0,60
0,55
0,50
0,45
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Example: 30 % of the feed is larger than the separation size, which gives B = 0.985.

C = Factor for the amount of half size in the material passing through the deck
(% < ½ SEP) / (% < SEP)

Note that this factor corresponds to the amount of half size in the material passing through
the deck.

4,00
3,50
3,00
2,50
2,00
1,50
1,00
0,50
0,00
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Example: 23 % of the feed is smaller than half the separation size and 70 % smaller than
the separation size according to the feed size distribution information. Thus the
23
amount of half size in the material passing through the deck is × 100 = 33 % .
70
The diagram gives C = 0.89
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ROCK PROCESSING MANUAL

MANUAL CALCULATION SCREENS D:3:1

Calculation of screen size 2001-10-08

D = Factor for the type of material in the feed

Material: Factor D
Crushed rock 1.00
Uncrushed gravel & sand 1.20
Coal, coke 1.20
High density ores 0.80
Slag 0.85
(
E = Factor for the bulk density of the feed material t / m 3 )
Factor E:
Bulk density of materials in t/m³

F = Factor for (surface) moisture content in the feed

Find the corresponding moisture content curve in the diagram, interpolate if necessary. If the
moisture content curve does not correspond to the separation size, the screening duty may
be impracticable.

F = 1.0 for wet screening.

Note that the amount of water on the surface of the particles, the surface moisture content, is
of importance. Calculate the corresponding moisture content if the feed materials compact
density differs from 2.65 t/m³ in order to get the correct amount of water as follows;

moister content × compact density

Ÿ (%) .
2.65

F = Factor for moisture content

1,20
0%
1,00
1%
0,80 2%
3%
0,60
4%
0,40
5% 6%
0,20

0,00
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718192021222324
Separation size
(mm)
Example: The moisture content in the feed is 3.5 %. Separation size 10 mm gives
F = 0.95.
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ROCK PROCESSING MANUAL

MANUAL CALCULATION SCREENS D:3:1

Calculation of screen size 2001-10-08

G = Factor for type of screen

Screen type: Factor D

Tripl-Flo N/A
SS 1
CS 1

H = Factor for wet screening

H = 1 for dry screening and for wet screening with separation size larger than 24 mm and
under the condition sufficient amounts of water is used. See section 5 for details.

1,50
1,45
1,40
1,35
1,30
1,25
1,20
1,15
1,10
1,05
1,00
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23

I = Factor for the position of the screening J = Factor for the type of the screening
deck element

Screening element Factor J

Deck position Factor I Steel
Top 1.0 Wire cloth, square 1.00
Second 0.9 holes
Third 0.8 Wire cloth, rect. holes 0.85
Fourth 0.7 Steel Plate 0.70
Rubber ①
Generic Rubber l 0,80
0.80
Polyurethane (plastic) ①
Generic Polyurethane 0,85
① Standard figures, will vary depending on
punching pattern and media thickness
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ROCK PROCESSING MANUAL

MANUAL CALCULATION SCREENS D:3:1

Calculation of screen size 2001-10-08

K = Factor for fraction length over deck

Divide the nominal upper separation size by the nominal lower separation size for the fraction
in question, i.e. the product fraction discharged over the deck. Find the factor K in the
diagram below.

1,30
1,20
1,10
1,00
0,90
0,80
0,70
0,60
0,50
1,2 1,3 1,4 1,5 1,6 1,7 1,8 1,9 2 2,1 2,2 2,3 2,4 2,5
Ratio between upper and lower seperation
14
Example: Ratio between upper and lower nominal separation sizes is = 14
. . The
10
diagram gives K = 0.79.

L = Factor for desired maximum amount of over- and undersize

Refers to the oversize in the fine through fraction and undersize in the coarse over-fraction.

Max. amount of over-/under- Factor L

size:
10/10 % or 5/15 % 0.70
10/15 % or 5/20 % 1.00
10/20 % or 15/15 % 1.20
10/25 % or more 1.30

Example: 20 % undersize in the fraction 10-14 mm going over the deck and max. 10 %
oversize in the 0-10 mm fraction going through the deck is permitted. Then L =
1.2 .

Result:

Complete the capacity through the deck calculation

Q spec =A× B×C× D× E× F×G× H×I×J × K× L

Example: According to the example,

Q spec = 9.6 × 0.985 × 0.89 × 10

. × 16
. × 10
. × 0.95 × 10
. × 10
. × 10
. × 0.79 × 12
. = 12.1 t / h × m 2
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ROCK PROCESSING MANUAL

MANUAL CALCULATION SCREENS D:3:1

Calculation of screen size 2001-10-08

7. Calculate required screen area ( and length )

Q through
The required screen area is calculated with the formula A= (m²)
Q spec
where

Q through = flow rate through the deck according to the feed size distribution information (t/h)
Q spec = specific screen capacity through deck ( t / h × m 2 ) see step 6

The required screen length is of second importance but can be helpful when selecting
A
standard screen size. Calculate the screen length with the formula L = (m)
W net
where

A = required screen area (m²)

W net = net width (m) see step 5

70
Example: The required area is A = = 5.79 m 2 .
12.1

8. Select screen of standard size

If the screen has more than one deck, repeat stage 1-7 for each deck. The deck with the
largest required size determines the minimum screen size needed for your application.

If no standard screen size is available with screen width and area close or equal to the
required, it may be necessary to redefine the screen duty.

Example: The required net screen width W net = 1.43 m (see step 5) plus 0.15 m for the
clamp bars gives a total screen width of 1.58 m. The required screening area is
approximate 5.8 - 6.0 m².

9. Check the resulting load

Calculate the average bed depth, i.e. the ”mean depth” with the formula

b feed + b dis
MB = where
2

b feed = bed depth at the feed end

b dis = bed depth at the discharge end